09
Feb 2010
Here in Maine, that could be the Great Dooryard Bird Count — but we will save the dooryard for another post. 
The Great Backyard Bird Count is coming soon. The next count will be February 12 — 15, 2010.
What is the Great Backyard Bird Count? The website of the same name, tells us that it is an annual four-day event that engages bird watchers of all ages in counting birds to create a real-time snapshot of where the birds are across the continent. Anyone can participate, from beginning bird watchers to experts. It takes as little as 15 minutes on one day, or you can count for as long as you like each day of the event. It’s free, fun, and easy—and it helps the birds. We’ll be adding updated GBBC materials for the next count as they become available.
Last year was my first year at this count and I found it enjoyable. Coppertop, my friend at My Maine Backyard Treasures, suggested that I might enjoy it and she was right!! I get quite a few birds around here but not a lot of different kinds but they are still fun to watch. This year, I have a new camera and hopefully will get some good photo’s.
The GBBC website has all the information that you will need to become a counter. They also have buttons for your web sites, a printable poster, a kids page, and a photo contest.
What do you need to do? Click HERE to go directly to the “How Do You Participate” page for instruction. Then get out your binoculars and get ready to count. Get the whole family involved. This is a wonderful way to interest the kids in birding. Have fun and happy counting!!
22
Feb 2009
I know that it is still winter here in Maine but I am getting soooo tired of snow! We had a beautiful sunny day yesterday and today for most of the day, the sun was shining again. When I looked at the thermometer earlier, it was over 4o°. The snow was plop, plop, plopping off of our metal roof as it continued to soak up the rays and release the snow that is piled up there. Some warm days, it is more like an avalanche but today we mostly heard the occasional plop as bits of hardened snow hit the ground or the decks. The thoughts of spring tease us on days like these. My thoughts turn to green grass, peepers and flowers. Well mine do but I have to admit that there are a whole lot of folks that ski and snowmobile that are cheering the coming storm.
The weatherman tells us that we had better not get used to this lovely weather because it is just a brief reprieve. A “nor’easter” is bearing down on us, and even as I write this, the sky is getting darker and temperature is starting to drop. We are told by tomorrow at this time we can expect to be buried under another twelve to twenty inches of snow—sigh!!
For the rest of today, I will surround myself with flowers. I have Webshots on my computer and I’ve turned off all of tho
se wintry photo’s that seemed so apropos last November right up until now. Today, I am changing my Webshots so that the photo’s that show up on my computer screen are flowers, birds, and gardens. I am going to review the gardening catalogs and magazines from last summer. I found this great photo in a gardening magazine and I will imagine myself walking through this beautiful garden.
For tonight, I will think green…gardens, grass, birds singing. Tomorrow, back to reality…I will probably be shoveling a foot or more of snow from the decks. Just a few weeks until we leave for Florida.
12
Feb 2009
Both my friend and my daughter-in-law have reminded me that the Great Backyard Bird Count is coming right up. Beginning tomorrow, February 13 and through February 16, bird lovers throughout the US will be checking out their backyards, parks, lakes an
d other area’s to count all the birds that they see. During this annual four-day event, bird watchers of all ages will be counting birds to create a real-time snapshot of bird types and where they across the continent.
Participation is easy and it’s free. To make it even easier, you can download a checklist of the birds that may be in your area by clicking here . Just put in your zipcode or town, hit the “go” button and you will receive a list of birds common to your area in February. Then just find fifteen minutes from February 13-16 and count the birds that you observe. You can count and record your results for a longer period of time and at anytime during those four days. When you are done counting, just click HERE and enter your results. That’s all there is to it!
There is a lot more information about the bird count on the GBBC website. This is a wonderful site with a great “Learn About Birds” section. There’s photo’s, video’s and even a “GBBC For Kids” section. The site explains, in great detail, the importance of the annual bird counts. There is even a place that YOU can upload your bird photo’s and have them entered in the 2009 photo contest.
I noticed that Maine was nowhere to be found on the “Top Ten Lists For 2008“. Let’s get counting and get Maine on one of those top ten lists for 2009. Show folks that Maine has lots of birds and many species in February. Have Fun!
